Toyota Recalling 480,000 Vehicles for Steering Flaws

Toyota Motor Corp. said it’s
preparing a global recall of about 480,000 Avalon sedans and
Land Cruiser sport-utility vehicles to repair steering parts
that may be defective.

About 400,000 U.S.-built Avalons have a steering-column
bracket that can fail and cause the steering wheel to lock up,
Toyota said yesterday. The Avalons were built between 2000
through 2004 and include 373,000 in the U.S., as well as
versions sold in Japan, Canada, China and Saudi Arabia.

Toyota also said it will recall 80,000 Land Cruisers for
another problem involving steering shafts. The world’s largest
automaker is working to improve quality following global recalls
of more than 8 million cars and light trucks for defects linked
to unintended acceleration. In the U.S., those recalls prompted
congressional hearings and a record $16.4 million fine.

“Toyota now seems to be very much erring on the side of
disclosing everything in terms of defects,” said Ed Kim, an
analyst at researcher AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin, California.
“That’s good, but the more problems and recalls are in view of
the public, the longer it takes for its reputation to recover.”

The recall of Land Cruisers includes 39,000 of its 2003
through 2007 Lexus LX 470 SUVs in the U.S., sold elsewhere as
the Land Cruiser 100, said Brian Lyons, a spokesman for the
Toyota City, Japan-based company. Toyota said it’s not aware of
deaths or injuries related to either flaw.

Toyota received seven complaints globally about steering
brackets that failed, said Mieko Iwasaki, a Tokyo-based
spokeswoman. In three of the cases reported in the U.S., there
were unconfirmed “minor” accidents, Lyons said, without
elaborating.